To see, or not to see

He finally got back just as I approached a town, "stop," he ordered, "see him?" I searched for a few moments before I noticed Oleck, "he knows."
"Knows what?"
"If his rescue mission worked. He knows, and you don't." he wasn't teasing, but Einstein was almost as curious as I was, "we can find out." he suggested.

"Yeah," I nodded quickly, "let's find out."

"But then," he paused, "maybe we shouldn't. Maybe we'll change something." he spoke almost wishfully.

"But if Novikov is correct-,"

"Yes, yes, I know what you are saying, but there is something interesting here."
I waited.

"Do we know if Oleck succeeds or not? Of course we don't, and yet it is already predetermined. Correct?"
"That's...what we think."

"But as long as we don't know, we are capable of trying to change what happens. If we know, everything we do will not matter, but if we don't know, then we are capable of trying. It is like this coin." he took a quarter out of his pocket, "if I ask you to make it heads when I flip it, you can make it heads by grabbing it and setting it on the ground. But if I take you into the future and show you that it is tails," he flipped the coin high into the air, "then you can't do anything to stop it from being tails, and trying won't do anything, because it's not worth trying; you already know."
"But if I try my hardest, even when I know the outcome..."
"You won't try your hardest, if you know what happens. That's a fact. Now where'd that quarter go?" We searched for the 2009 Hawaii-state quarter for a few minutes, but it was gone. "Oh well, no use crying over spilled quarters. That'll probably become a million-dollar collectors item. I am off to get some tools. I am sending you back to Brooklyn at the appropriate time. See you there.